Persuasive precedent
Hi there! Today we're going to talk about something called "persuasive precedent".
Imagine you're playing a game with your friends, and one of your friends has a rule that everyone has to follow in the game. You think the rule is a good one and you wish everyone played that way all the time. So you tell your other friends about the rule and they agree that it's a good idea too.
In a way, this is kind of like how persuasive precedent works. In the grown-up world, we have something called "precedent" which is when a court makes a ruling or decision about something. That ruling or decision becomes the rule for future cases that are similar to the one that was already decided.
So let's say a court makes a decision about something and that decision becomes the rule for future cases. But sometimes a different court might make a decision about the same thing that's a little bit different from the first decision. This is where persuasive precedent comes in.
"Persuasive" means something that might not be the exact rule, but it's still a really good idea. So if a court makes a decision that's slightly different from the original decision, but still makes sense and is fair, other courts might use that decision as a "persuasive precedent" to make their own rulings.
Just like how you talked to your friends about how great your friend's game rule was, courts can look at decisions made in other cases and think "hey, that makes sense, maybe we should do it that way too". And that's how persuasive precedent works!
Imagine you're playing a game with your friends, and one of your friends has a rule that everyone has to follow in the game. You think the rule is a good one and you wish everyone played that way all the time. So you tell your other friends about the rule and they agree that it's a good idea too.
In a way, this is kind of like how persuasive precedent works. In the grown-up world, we have something called "precedent" which is when a court makes a ruling or decision about something. That ruling or decision becomes the rule for future cases that are similar to the one that was already decided.
So let's say a court makes a decision about something and that decision becomes the rule for future cases. But sometimes a different court might make a decision about the same thing that's a little bit different from the first decision. This is where persuasive precedent comes in.
"Persuasive" means something that might not be the exact rule, but it's still a really good idea. So if a court makes a decision that's slightly different from the original decision, but still makes sense and is fair, other courts might use that decision as a "persuasive precedent" to make their own rulings.
Just like how you talked to your friends about how great your friend's game rule was, courts can look at decisions made in other cases and think "hey, that makes sense, maybe we should do it that way too". And that's how persuasive precedent works!
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